Daily Times

German sportswear giant Adidas tendered an apology to pro-Palestinian American supermodel Bella Hadid after she threatened to take legal action against the company, over the Olympic campaign controversy.

In their second apology, following the new 1972 Munich Olympics-inspired ad campaign, for the relaunched SL72, Adidas apologised to Bella Hadid and its other models and partners, after the American supermodel of Palestinian descent, threatened legal action against them, for the campaign referred to the Munich Massacre.

In the statement issued on Sunday, the reps for the sports giant said, “Connections continue to be made to the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Munich Olympics due to our recent SL72 campaign. These connections are not meant and we apologise for any upset or distress caused to communities around the world.”

“We made an unintentional mistake. We also apologise to our partners, Bella Hadid, A$AP Nast, Jules Koundé and others, for any negative impact on them and we are revising the campaign,” they stated further.

Notably, the recent development came a day after it was reported over the weekend that Hadid is preparing legal action against Adidas, and has hired a lawyer, to challenge the company for its lack of public accountability and is upset with them for putting out the campaign that can associate anyone with such a tragedy.

“Bella is going to take legal action against Adidas for their lack of public accountability for putting out a campaign that would associate anyone with the death and violence of what took place at the 1972 Munich Games,” a source, close to the model, told a foreign outlet. “Violence is not consistent with Bella’s views.”

The source also noted that Hadid has expressed her disappointment with the company because ‘they would reference the 1972 Olympics without recognising the historical context beforehand’.

It is pertinent to note that Adidas dropped the vocal pro-Palestinian model, Friday, from the advertising campaign for retro sneakers referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were overshadowed by a massacre of Israeli athletes.

The action was taken after pictures of Hadid wearing the retro Adidas shoes had caused an outcry among pro-Israeli groups.